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Less than a year after she called off her engagement to pastor and sports chaplain Chad JohnsonMichelle Williams is taking the first steps to get back to her first love, God.

In a new interview with Essence, the Destiny’s Child and gospel singer opened up about how she’s getting to know herself again after the shocking split from Johnson and how her quitting Broadway led to a serious mental breakdown.

“People have been like, ‘Michelle, this is a season for people to love on you.’ That’s hard to accept when you’re independent. It’s hard to sit down and just let somebody love on you, take care of you. I’m in a church where I’m being discipled. I don’t have to wear makeup. I can just go in and worship the Lord—go to church and just be. I’m getting back to my first love, which is God. And that had been a part of my success before. I was serving God. I’m forming that habit again,” she said.

Williams also gave advice to women who may feel overwhelmed with life.

“Allow yourself to feel the pain of what you’re feeling, okay? But then tell yourself you’ve got to get up. Because some people won’t tell you to get up or know what to say,” she told the publication. “I pray you find that inner strength to say, Okay, I’ve been down. I’ve been in this bed too long. I’ve got to get up. That’s what I did. You have to have it in you to tell yourself to get up. The days do get better. They really, really do. I’m a living testament of it. You have to do the work. And I strongly suggest finding a therapist to talk to.”

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